Australia and Malaysia Need to Negotiate Expanded Bilateral Agreements

[Josh T 0]

The whole thing is even sillier when you see that QF aren't even attempting to code-share with KUL, which is now a OneWorld hub! AA have taken advantage of MH joining OneWorld and they code-share from LHR to KUL. I see lots of AA passengers on the KUL-LHR flights these days.

[Izanee 0]

MAS and AA have hit it off, code sharing from LHR, CDG,FRA, NRT and LAX... Surprised BA and QF still playing silly buggers.. Especially since QF sponsored MAS. Maybe the failed Red Q thing really soured relations

[flee 5]

MAS and AA have hit it off, code sharing from LHR, CDG,FRA, NRT and LAX... Surprised BA and QF still playing silly buggers.. Especially since QF sponsored MAS. Maybe the failed Red Q thing really soured relations

Perhaps QF is now focused on making their EK partnership work. They might not need oneworld since EK is set on dominating the world!

[S V Choong 4]

And Renaissance Hotel was their nightstop hotel in KL.

 

The Renaissance near KLCC? Nice hotel... stayed there once and was upgraded

 

Were you referring to Ansett crew's night stop hotel?

[Isaac 0]

The Renaissance near KLCC? Nice hotel... stayed there once and was upgraded

Yes. That is the one.

 

 

Were you referring to Ansett crew's night stop hotel?

Yeah

[Chris Tan 0]

QF's international network isn't doing well so I doubt they're in the mood to experiment with new destinations that aren't particularly popular, such as KUL. Heck, they can't even make SYD-PEK work.

 

What really annoys me is BA's new service to CGK via SIN. KUL is casually overlooked, as usual.

[Izanee 0]

Well, it's BA's loss. Hopefully MH will consolidate their presence in LHR as the only airline with non stop services to KUL and keep taking OW frequent fliers who want an alternative route to Australasia.

Also better for AF and KL ...

Plus TK and the ME3.

Not sure about LH but they seem to be going steady despite the apparently low loads. Maybe the cargo is helping..

[flee 5]

Well, it's BA's loss. Hopefully MH will consolidate their presence in LHR as the only airline with non stop services to KUL and keep taking OW frequent fliers who want an alternative route to Australasia.

Also better for AF and KL ...

Plus TK and the ME3.

Not sure about LH but they seem to be going steady despite the apparently low loads. Maybe the cargo is helping..

I think European airlines tend to fare badly in KUL. The costs of maintaining an operation here (e.g. sales office) will be too high for the volume of business.

 

I remember flying on BA's Tristar in the 1980s and the load was so bad that I could have the whole row of seats to myself.

[Izanee 0]

Well I'm not sure about that flee. Emirates is making a killing on its KUL route along with etihad and Qatar. KLM is also happy with KUL and it seems AF is expanding services. Lots of people travel to Europe from KUL with the ME3.

Not forgetting MH and it's 2 daily A380 to LHR and 1 daily to CDG

[Mike P 0]

Well I'm not sure about that flee. Emirates is making a killing on its KUL route along with etihad and Qatar. KLM is also happy with KUL and it seems AF is expanding services. Lots of people travel to Europe from KUL with the ME3.

Not forgetting MH and it's 2 daily A380 to LHR and 1 daily to CDG

 

I tend to agree. I believe both BA & QF are having their own strategies and choosing to opt out KUL.

[alberttky 0]

Well I'm not sure about that flee. Emirates is making a killing on its KUL route along with etihad and Qatar. KLM is also happy with KUL and it seems AF is expanding services. Lots of people travel to Europe from KUL with the ME3.

Not forgetting MH and it's 2 daily A380 to LHR and 1 daily to CDG

Emirates is making a killing on its KUL route along with Etihad and Qatar because of the Arabic tourists that come to KUL. And they're not European airlines.

 

AF is expanding services because Europe is still in recession.

[Izanee 0]

I think most passengers are going on to Europe ... I've flown on emirates quite a few times to LHR, LGW, MAN from KUL via DXB. Lots of pax go on to other places. Lots go on to Nigeria etc etc as well.

[Kee Hooi Yen 0]

QF flies to SIN, BKK, CGK, BKK, MNL and JQ flies to BKK, HKT, SIN, DPS, SGN but no KUL. I don't undertsand why this is the case. I believe Australia has closer historical ties with Malaysia than other Asean countries too.

 

On the contrary, MH & D7 flies more than dozen A330 flights daily from KUL to PER, SYD, MEL, ADL, BNE, OOL.

 

Is low yield on Australia-KUL the only reason QF not flying to KUL or KUL is deliberately left out by QF for other reason ? Or as others said QF is not able to compete with MH / D7 hence pull out from Malaysia market ?

 

Why x 10 ?

Edited November 4, 2013 by Kee Hooi Yen

[fenandri 3]

pardon my ignorance , is ME3 stans for that top 3 middle east carrier? wheres that name come from?

[Izanee 0]

Sorry fernandri, yes, I found that on airliners.net

[flee 5]

Fifty-four international scheduled airlines operated services to/from Australia during the month (includes five dedicated freight airlines but excludes airlines operating only via code share arrangements).

International scheduled passenger traffic in August 2013 was 2.647 million compared to 2.420 million in August 2012 – an increase of 9.4 per cent. March 2011 (-1.6 per cent) recorded the only annual month on month decrease in traffic since March 2009.

Detailed statistics: http://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/ongoing/files/International_airline_activity_1308.pdf

[Kris Kim 0]

MH beings their 3rd daily MEL flight tomorrow! MH 146/147 is the new 3rd daily flight.

 

MH 149 switches to the 772 effective tomorrow, while the new flight will be operated with A333 equipment.

 

With the new 3rd daily frequency, MH will offer more services than TG and up its ranks with CX at MEL. Hopefully with the new 3rd daily service, this will prompt MH to refurbish it's MEL Golden Lounge as it is an embarrassment compared to the other lounges at MEL (besides the UA & CX Lounges).

[Guest Michael O'Neill]

I do agree with that it is time for MH to start increasing yields again.

[Craig 0]

Hopefully with the new 3rd daily service, this will prompt MH to refurbish it's MEL Golden Lounge as it is an embarrassment compared to the other lounges at MEL (besides the UA & CX Lounges).

 

The GL is a dump, but passengers could just use QF's JCL (for business/sapphire passengers) or QF's FCL (for emerald passengers). Better food and ambiance compared to the GL.

[Suzanne Goh 0]

The GL is a dump, but passengers could just use QF's JCL (for business/sapphire passengers) or QF's FCL (for emerald passengers). Better food and ambiance compared to the GL.

 

problem is QF F lounge is not open for ALL the MH departures

[KK Lee 5]

Hopefully with the new 3rd daily service, this will prompt MH to refurbish it's MEL Golden Lounge as it is an embarrassment compared to the other lounges at MEL (besides the UA & CX Lounges).

 

 

The GL is a dump, but passengers could just use QF's JCL (for business/sapphire passengers) or QF's FCL (for emerald passengers). Better food and ambiance compared to the GL.

 

May be MH should close the GL.

[Suzanne Goh 0]

May be MH should close the GL.

 

They'd need to negotiate with QF for them to keep their lounges open for the late night departure. The QF F lounge closes just after QF9 departs. The J lounge and the QC not much later.

 

Or use some other lounge of course... like CX/NZ/SQ

[Kris Kim 0]

A little MEL Lounge guide !

 

There's not many OW lounges at MEL (but its still plenty compared to the rest of Australia), you have 4 to choose from;

 

- Qantas First Lounge

- Qantas Business/Qantas Club Lounge

- Malaysia Airlines Golden Lounge

- Cathay Pacific First & Business Lounge

 

The Qantas Lounges IMO are one of the best in the world, the First lounge is just amazing, even though its quite compacted its everything a lounge should be. Qantas Business/Club is quite good also, nothing to complain about - just the lack of space especially during the morning peak where you have literally 4 QF flights departing within 1.5 hours. F Lounge closes in the afternoon after QF9 to DXB/LHR, but the JCL lounge closes at 23:30 after the last JQ service.

 

Let's be honest, MH's lounge is a dump and CX's own lounge isn't so flashy either, both have outdated interiors and the seats are really showing their age, you can literally see the seat threads slowly falling off. These are your only choices if you are flying out on MH.

 

You have 4 more options when flying a different carrier; 3 are *A Lounges and 1 Emirates Lounge.

 

- United Club

- Singapore Airlines Silver Kris

- Air New Zealand Koru Club

- Emirates Lounge

 

I don't recommend the UA Club at MEL, its quite small and sparse, but the selection of food is quite adequate, especially the drinks on offer, this lounge is only opened for the daily UA840 service. SQ recently refurbished its lounge at MEL and it certainly looks great, the food election has also vastly improved and there is more seating and power stations to do work, one of the best lounges at MEL, like MH the lounge use to look awful and outdated; the SQ Lounge is opened only for SQ's own 4 daily services. NZ's Koru Club is still one of the best lounges at MEL, however it can get quite full at times and the lounge dragon won't let you in when it does, the NZ Lounge is opened for all NZ services. All 3 Lounges as per *A rules allow *G to enter with a guest if they are departing on a *A flight (CA, NZ, UA, SQ, TG). The EK lounge is typical EK and like any other EK lounge out there - nothing special, but quite nice and spacious, the EK lounge is only opened during all 4 EK departures.

 

*** Remember you are not eligible to use the lounges if your airline is not contracted to it and if your not flying the airline in the same alliance (so you can't fly MH and lounge hop to the SQ lounge even if your a *G as your operating carrier for that flight is not a member of *A as per Alliance rules) ***

 

EY will open a new lounge at MEL next year - looking forward to this one!

[Craig 0]

Let's be honest, MH's lounge is a dump and CX's own lounge isn't so flashy either, both have outdated interiors and the seats are really showing their age, you can literally see the seat threads slowly falling off. These are your only choices if you are flying out on MH.

Thank you! I've been to the NZ lounge before and loved it! BTW, the CX/MH lounge is not the only choice for MH passengers. You can use the QF lounge if you are not flying the red-eye out of MEL (MH 128).

[Mike P 0]

MAS looking for 4th KL-Melbourne service

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2013/11/22/MAS-LOOKING-FOR-FOURTH-KLMELBOURNE-SERVICE.aspx

MELBOURNE: As Malaysia Airlines' (MAS) inaugural third daily flight took off from here this morning with a full load, the national carrier began plans for a fourth daily service to meet increasing demand from Australians.

MAS Regional Senior Vice-President Lee Poh Kait told a large gathering at the airport here that while they were celebrating the exciting occasion today, the airline was making plans for further expansion of services from Malaysia to Melbourne.

Lee said the third daily service would increase capacity from 7,896 seats a week to 11,844 seats.

"We will now be offering morning, afternoon and midnight services from here to Kuala Lumpur.

"Our customers will benefit with improved connectivity to more than 60 destinations within the airline's network via our hub at KLIA," he said.

Lee said the triple daily services would also provide more opportunities to strengthen tourism, business and education traffic between the two countries. "

Melbourne has always been an important market for us and it is the first city in Australia offering 21 flights every week.

"We have seen an overall increase of 16.7% in passenger uplift and discharge from Malaysia and an increase of 6.7% in international passengers to Melbourne compared with 2012," he said.

Lee said MAS had invested a lot of money to serve the Australian market with its state-of-the-art fleet. "The additional service will be operated by the innovative A330-300 aircraft and will have 36 seats in business abd 247 seats in economy class," he said.

From next February, MAS will be operating a total of 74 flights a week from six capital cities in Australia.
Lee also paid tribute to the work of the MAS manager here, Terence Swampallai, and his staff in facilitating the new service.

Saying MAS was "part of our family for many years", Melbourne Airport Chief Executive, Chris Woodruff, said Melbourne was Australia's largest market for travel to and from Malaysia.

He said the new third service would not only bring more passengers to Melbourne but would also provide more choices for Victorians.

Acknowledging the award-wining Malaysia Airlines as one of the world's premier airlines, Woodruff said he was proud to work with the Malaysian carrier, adding that he looked forward to more Malaysians visiting Melbourne.

Malaysian Consul-General here, Datuk Dr Mohd Rameez Yahaya, said he hoped more Melbournians would travel to Malaysia, not only for a holiday, but to seize business and investment opportunities. - Bernama

It's going to be 7x daily! With EK daily and D7 twice daily service!

Edited November 22, 2013 by Mike P